Bed slat



Nov. 2, 1948. I

M. TUCKER BED SLAT Filed Dec. 4, 1946 INVENTOR Mmms 75mm BY Z7 an ATTORNEY i aiented Nov. 2, i948 OFFICE BED SLAT Morris Tucker, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Robert Tucker, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 4, 1946, Serial No. 714,019

5 Claims. 1

This invention relates to furniture and, more particularly, is concerned with slats such as are used to support a fiat resilient member like a. bed spring.

The actual slat shown and described in the instant application is specially designed for use as a bed slat, but it is to be understood that this embodiment of my invention is given by Way of example only and is not to be interpreted as limitative except to the extent that features specific thereto are included in the appended claims.

It is a primary object of my invention to provide slats of sturdy, simple and inexpensive construction.

It is another object of my invention to provide slats which are uniformly strong and are not, like wooden slats, subject to individual defects, such as knots.

It is a further object of my invention to provide slats which readily lend themselves to mass production methods for the manufacture of individual parts and the assembly thereof into complete units.

It is an additional object of my invention to provide a slat whose length can be quickly and easily varied and which will automatically maintain itself at any adjusted length without the necessity of manipulating a lock or setting means to fix such adjusted length.

It is yet another object of my invention to provide a bed slat which may be depended upon to maintain its position when once set in place so that only two slats need be used rather than the several slats which are presently employed to make sure that, if one or even a few slats fall out, there will still be enough slats left to hold up the bed spring.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be shown in the accompanying drawing and of which the scope will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a bed employing slats constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the improved bed slat.

In general I carry out my invention by forming a slat out of metal and making the length thereof adjustable. Such a slat has the advantage of uniformity and strength and, therefore, is much superior to a wooden slat. However, although it has often been proposed to make slats of metal, this type of slat has never replaced wooden slats, due to the relatively complex structural forms suggested for the metal slats and to the difiiculty of adjusting the length of the slats and fixing the adjusted lengths. More specifically, therefore, I achieve the several objects of my invention by providing a metal slat of extremely simple construction which has the virtue not only of comprising relatively few and simple parts, and thus being inexpensive to manufacture, but also can be adjusted with great ease and will automatically-retain itself in any adjusted position.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, Ill denotes a bed of conventional construction comprising by way of example a head board I2 and foot board i l connected by side rails l6, I8. Each of these rails is provided with the usual elongated strip 2! near its bottom edge which heretofore has been used to support the edges of wooden bed slats. The bed also includes a conventional bed spring 22 having a flat mattress supporting surface. By way of illustration, said spring consists of longitudinally extending metal tapes 24 interconnected by metal cross tapes 26. The ends of the longitudinal tapes are supported through helical springs 28 on transverse angle irons 30. These angle irons are carried by brackets 32 at the head and foot of the bed, the brackets being bridged by a pair of longitudinally extending pipes 34 which are slightly upwardly bowed in keeping with standard practice.

Up to now, wooden bed slats have-spanned the strips 20 in order to provide a support for the pipes 34 or other bottom members of a conventional bed spring. Usually a few, as for example, five, slats were employed, not for the purpose principally of distributing load, but rather so that if one or two slats fell out the remaining slats could still support the bed spring. This was necessary with wooden slats, because it was quite usual for their lengths to vary substantially, so that one slat might barely span the distance between the strips 25 and, if this slat were disturbed, as for instance shifted to an angular posiition, it wouldfall between the strips 29. Moreover, slats quite frequently warped, thus reducing their overall length and causing them to fall off the strips 2t. Sometimes the rails I6 warped and increased the distance between them while the bed was in use. This, too, caused slats to fall off the strips, particularly when'the slats at the time of installation were just about long enough not to fall through the space between the strips.

Pursuant to my invention, I have avoided these difiiculties by providing a metal bed slat 36 which comprises an elongated structural member 38, such as an angle iron at one end of which is secured an angle bracket 40 consisting of an elongate-d horizontal leg 42 and an elongated vertical leg 44. Any suitable type of connection is used which will rigidly attach the angle bracket to said structural member. The preferred method of attachment and the one shown herein comprises a welded joint 46. For the sake of appearance, the horizontal leg 42 of the angle bracket may be flush with and welded to the horizontal leg 48 of the 1 structural member 38, and the vertical leg 50 of said structural member may be butted against and welded to the vertical leg 44 of the angle bracket.

A similar angle bracket 52 is provided at the other end of the elongated structural member 38. Said bracket likewise comprises an elongated horizontal leg 54 and an elongated vertical leg 55.

This second bracket 52 is connected to the affiliated end of the structural member 38 in such fashion that it can be shifted parallel to the langitudinal axis of the structural member in a simple fashion, and yet retain itself in any adjusted position without the necessity of manipulating a a locking device. tween the angle bracket 52 and elongated structural member is effected by screw means, the same comprising a threaded tube or red 58 having one end thereof rigidly connected to the vertical leg 58 of the bracket 52 in a suitable manner, for in- 1:.

stance by welding. The screw means also includes a member 58 in the form, for example, of a sleeve, having an internal bore 62 which is tapped to threadedly receive the rod 58 in a position in which it is disposed parallel to the longitudinal :5.

axis of the structural member 38. The sleeve is rigidly secured to the structural member, as by being welded to the horizontal and vertical legs 48, 50 thereof.

In operation, the rod 58 is threaded into the sleeve 60 sufiiciently to hold the same in place. Then the first bracket 40 is laid on one of the strips 20, the horizontal leg 42 thereof resting on the upper surface of the strip and the ver.ical leg 44 butting against the exposed inside surface of the strip. At such time, the structural member is inclined upwardly from the strip on which the slat rests. Next, the other end of the slat is lowered and it is observed how far the vertical leg 55 of the second angle bracket 52 is spaced from the exposed inside surface of the other strip 20. The slat now is tilted up again, and the rod 58 turned in the sleeve 60 a proper distance to locate the vertical leg 56 of said second bracket close to the exposed inside surface of the strip 20 on which said bracket is to rest. When the slat finally i re stored to its horizontal position, the vertical legs 44, 56 of both brackets will be in close proximity to the exposed inside surface of the strips, so that the slat cannot shift longitudinally to an appreciable extent or be angularly shifted enough to permit the slat to fall between said strips. More over, because the slat so fully spans the gapbetween the strips, even if the rails I 6, l8 warp somewhat, said slat will .be unable to fall between the strips. 7

Due to the permanence of the adjusted length of metal slats embodying my invention, only two of such slats need be used, one at each endof th bed, to support the bed spring 22.

The aforesaid connection be- It will be observed from the foregoing, that the length of the slats can be adjusted very easily and, because the fixed bracket 50 has a portion thereof comprising the horizontal leg 42 resting on spaced points of one of the strips 20, the slat cannot turn so that after the slat once has been adjusted to a given length it is not necessary to tighten any locking means to prevent the slat from changing its length. This feature makes the im proved slat very reliable.

It Will thus be seen that I have provided a slat which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A slat comprising an elongated structural member, a bracket rigidly secured to one end of said structural member, said bracket including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending outwardly away from the vertical portion, a bracket member including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending outwardly away from the vertical portion and means to interconnect said bracket member with the other end of said elongated structural member, said means including a threaded rod rigidly secured to one of said members and extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of said elongated structural memher and an element rigidly secured to the other member and having a tapped opening in which the rod is threadedly received.

2. A slat comprising an elongated structural member, a bracket rigidly secured to one end of said structural member, said bracket including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending outwardlyaway from the vertical portion, a second bracket including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending outwardly away from said vertical portion, and means to inter connect said second bracket with the other end of said elongated structural member, said means including a threaded rod rigidly secured to said second bracket and extending parallel to the iongitudinal axis of said elongated structural mom and. an element rigidly secured to said elon gated structural member and having a tapped openings in which the rod is threadedly received.

'3. A slat comprising an elongated structural member, a bracket rigidly secured to one end of said structural member, said bracket including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extend ing outwardly away from the vertical portion, a second bracket including a vertical portion and a horizontal portion extending outwardly away from said vertical portion, and means to inter connect said second bracket with the other end of :said elongated structural member, said means including a threaded rod rigidly secured to said second bracket and extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of said elongated structural member and an elongated element rigidly secured to said elongatedsti'uctural member and having a tapped opening in which the rod is threadedly received, said opening being elongated in a direction parallel to said axis.

4. A slat comprising an elongated metallic structural member, a metallic angle bracket welded to one end of said structural member, said bracket including a vertical leg and a horizontal leg extending outwardly from the vertical leg, a second metallic angle bracket including a vertical leg and a horizontal leg extending outwardly from the vertical leg, a threaded rod welded to said second bracket, an internally tapped sleeve welded to the other end of said structural member and threadedly receiving said rod, said rod being disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of said structural member.

5. A slat comprising an elongated angle iron having a vertical leg and an upper horizontal leg, a metallic angle bracket including a vertical leg and an upper horizontal leg extending outwardly from its vertical leg both legs being elongated at right angles to the angel iron, the vertical leg of the bracket being welded to one end of the angle iron and the horizontal leg of the bracket being approximately coplanar with the horizontal leg of the angle iron, a second metallic angle bracket having a vertical leg and an upper MORRIS TUCKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 266,999 Keeler Nov. 7, 1882 557,697 Pettee Apr. 7, 1896 587,864 Ryan Aug. 10, 1897 674,725 Bergman et al May 21, 1901 

